A conference of an international network for the abolition of foreign military bases was organised in Ecuador attended by over 1,000 activists and experts from 30 countries last week. The No Bases Network will coordinate action strategies against the more than 1,000 military bases worldwide. Activist of Ecuador No base coalition Lina Cahuasquí said that most of the 1,000 foreign military bases on the planet belong to the United States, which has 737 in different countries of world. Others belong to Russia, China, the United Kingdom and Italy. “And these do not include secret military bases, like the four operated by the U.S. in Iraq,” she said.

“But the United States doesn’t only have bases in developing countries. It has 81 bases in Germany and 37 in Japan,” she added. In Latin America and the Caribbean there are 17 U.S. military bases, located in Colombia, Peru, El Salvador, Aruba, Curaçao, Honduras, Ecuador, and Guantánamo Bay in Cuba, she noted.

Wilbert van der Zeijden, of the Transnational Institute in the Netherlands said, If we can’t shut down all the bases, we may at least be able to weaken the U.S. military network which allows them to attack when and where they wish.

Corazón Fabros Valdez, from the Philippines, is on the International Organising Committee for the conference said, the importance of international solidarity for achieving success during the struggle against U.S. bases in the Philippines. “The Philippines had U.S. military bases for over 100 years, which were used against Vietnam and other nations. Some of the worst effects were violations of human rights and democracy,” said Fabros Valdez.

Cahuasquí spoke of the U.S. base at Vieques, Puerto Rico, as an example of the negative consequences of military bases. “The area was contaminated with heavy metals, chemicals, and even nuclear waste like depleted uranium, with harmful effects on the water, human beings, and the environment in general,” she said.

The confernce also discussed the achievements of their struggle so far, including the case of Italy, where more than 100,000 people took to the streets to demonstrate that they would not accept violations of their national sovereignty.

Kinto Lucas/IPS